Is My Screen Broken?

[bmazloum]

I just got this used Surface off of eBay. The top left portion of the screen doesn't detect any finger movements, flipping the Surface around makes it consistent (so upside down it's the bottom right portion of the screen).

Is that how touch screens break? Portions stop working? I thought the entire touch would stop working? Any ideas? I've applied all updates. I've refreshed the system twice already.

I checked online and the Surface is still covered by warranty from Microsoft. I don't have the original receipt and I'm currently out of town until August. (It'll still be covered by then). What do you guys think I should do? I messaged the seller telling him about the issue.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[jnjroach]

Reset the calibration and see if that fixes it before exchanging it...

 

[bmazloum]

If I try to calibrate it, the first part it asks me to click on (top left) It doesn't detect the touch with my fingers. The strange part is, sometimes it's a big box in the top left, and other times it's smaller. I used fresh paint to check the entire screen and then noticed that.

The first position on the calibration screen isn't detected by the pen either. All the others are okay though.

 

[Johnny365]

Use a drawing program and put it full screen. Paint the entire surface up to the point where it doesn't detect touch input and post the screenshot here.

 

[bmazloum]

Attached. Okay, something is weird. I did this earlier today and the dead area was twice as big.

 

[bmazloum]

The area was so big earlier today that I couldn't click on first tile on my start screen unless it was the bottom right part of the tile. Is it possible the screen might have been compressed during shipping and now is relaxing or something?

 

[Johnny365]

Regardless, it still isn't being detected in that upper left area. I'm guessing the screen might have been replaced, but there was a fault in the touch sensor or it was replaced incorrectly causing that part not to be usable.

 

[bmazloum]

Well it's still covered under warranty until Jan 31, 2016 according to the MS Surface site (unless the previous owner broke a seal) but in his post he said there was no damage and even after contacting him he said he had no idea. Has anyone purchased the extended service plan online? It says I'm eligible but when I click on it to purchase it says there's nothing available.

 

[violet182]

As jnroach suggested, try just pressing the reset button when going to calibrate it. Don't actually try to calibrate it. This resolved my screen issues. For some reason only resetting the calibration works not actually recalibrating it.

 

[jnjroach]

If I try to calibrate it, the first part it asks me to click on (top left) It doesn't detect the touch with my fingers. The strange part is, sometimes it's a big box in the top left, and other times it's smaller. I used fresh paint to check the entire screen and then noticed that.

The first position on the calibration screen isn't detected by the pen either. All the others are okay though.

Don't calibrate just reset.... calibrating touch is a leftover from Windows 7 and is detrimental to Windows 8.x devices.

 

[bmazloum]

Never had the option to reset, this is a capture of the window that I get. Unless there's something else?

 

[bmazloum]

Well, after doing more searching, I came across this thread posted earlier here:
http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/touchscreen-calibration-problem.10563/page-3

The link from Sony seems to have fixed the issue for now. I'm just curious if it's the keyboard that's really causing the problem? I'm so happy, thought I was gonna have to put up with this until August. Thanks for all the help guys.